Leather-snipping machine.



No. 732,185. PATENTBD JUNE .30, 1903.

N. HAYWARD. LEATHER SNIPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 001*. s, 1902.

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71. AL MJ No. 732,185. PATENTBD JUNE 3-0, 19.03.

N. HAYWARD.

LEATHER SHIPPING MACHINE.

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UNITED STATES Patented June 30, 1903.

NATHAN HAYWARD, OF BROOKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LEATHER-SNlPPING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 732,185, dated June 30, 1903.

Application filed October 6, 1902. Serial llo. 126,034. (No modeli) To all whom, it ntcty concern:

Be it known that I, NATHAN HAYWARD, of Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Leather- Snipping Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for snipping or making a series of short slits in the curved edges of boot and shoe uppers to facilitate the folding of said edges. It is common to construct such apparatus with a vertically-reciprocating cutter-head having a gang of shipping-knives independently adjustable to vary the shape of thecurve presented by their free ends and havinga guiding-face below the knives to which the edge of the work is presented in order to accurately adjust it with respect to the knives.- Heretofore when work of a different curvature than that for which the machine was arranged was to be operated upon it has been necessary to make an extensive interchange ofparts of the machine to suit the new curvature or else to provide a multiple machine in which the operating parts were repeated in difierent curvatures.

One object of my invention is in one case to reduce the required amount of interchange or substitution of parts in order to adapt the machine to different curvatures of work or in the other case to reduce the number of operating parts on the machine, thereby re.- ducing the size, cost, and attendant items,

and a second object is to avoid the results of faulty adjustment of the amount of projection of the knives by providing knives having a fixed degree of projection beyond the guide at all adjustments.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a leathersnipping machine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 represents a plan View thereof. Fig. 3 represents a vertical section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Y

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, 1 represents a frame or standard having a horizontal work-supporting plate or table 2 at its upper end, which remains a permanent part of the machine when the adjustmentof the latter is changed.

3 is a vertically-sliding stem elevated by a spring 4 and depressed by suitable means, such as a treadle, and having fixed to its upper end a head 5. To the latter is fixed a sliding guide-rod 6 to preserve the vertical alinement of the knives during their reciprocation.

7 7 represent the knives or blades arranged in a curved group or gang and having their upper ends let into slots 8 8 in the head, the knives being provided with rearWardly-projecting tangs or heels 9 9 on their upper portions, which are clamped to the head by a plate 10 engaging their lower edges and removably secured in place by screws 11 11.

The knives 7 are formed with lower guiding portions 12 12, whose vertical front edges collectively constitute a guide by which to position the work, and with integral forwardly-projecting cutting-spurs 1313, sharpened on their lower edges to snip or slit the marginal portion of the work, which is represented in dotted lines at 14 in Fig. 2. The knives operate in slots 15 15 in the table 2,

I which are elongated horizontally sufficiently to permit the passage of the spurs 13 below the surface of the table and the horizontal adjustment of the knives.

The clamping-plate 10 is let into a shallow groove 16 of the width of the plate in each of the tangs 9, whereby each of the knives preserves a fixed relation to the plate. This plate constitutes a shaper whose curvature determines that of the blades 7 and their guiding and cutting portions, and it is the only part of the apparatus which is changed when the machine is to be adjusted to a new curvature work is folded. The guiding portions 12 of the blades remain continuallyin the slots 15, and the blades are guided as to lateral displacement by said slots. The accurate registry of the cutters 13 with the slots and their entry into the slots is therefore always insured, and my machine does not suifer from the objection of having the knives sometimes miss the slots and abut against the portions of the table between them, which has been found in former machines.

The head 5 is provided with a projecting arm 17, on which is mounted a knife 18, having an L-shaped cutting edge which cooperates with a soft-metal anvil 19 on the worktable 2 in cutting out a corner of the upper 1410 allow the two edges meeting at this corner to be folded over.

I claim 1. In a machine for treating the curved edges of boot or shoe uppers, a gang-guide composed of sections independently adjustable to vary the contour oftheguide.

2. In a machine for treating the curved edges of boot or shoe uppers, a gang-guide composed of sections independently adjustable to vary the contour of the guide, and a shaper imparting a predetermined contour to the guide.

3. In a leather-snipping machine, a gang- -cutter comprising knives independently adjustable to vary the contour of the cutter, and a shaper imparting a predetermined contour to ,the cutter.

4. A knife for leather-snipping machines havingaguiding portion and a cuttingspur.

5. In a leather-snipping machine, a gangcutter and guide composed of knives independently adjustable to vary the contour of the cutter and guide and each comprising a guiding portion and a cutting-spur integral therewith.

6. In a leather-snipping machine, a gangcutterandguidecomposedofknivesindependently adjustable to vary' the contour of the cutter and guide and each comprising a guiding portion and a cutting-spur integral therewith and a shaper imparting a predetermined contour to said cutter and guide.

7. In a leather-snipping machine, a gangcutter composed of knives, each comprising a cutting portion and a portion depending therefrom, and a table having slots which receive and laterally support the said depending portions, which portions remain continuously in said slots. v

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

NATHAN HAYWARD.

\Vitnesses:

A. W. HARRISON, P. W. PEZZETTE.- 

